Cleveland Guardians’ pitching shines, but offensive woes persist. Can the team overcome their struggles at the plate and stay in the playoff hunt?
Hosts Justin Lada and Jeff Ellis analyze the Guardians’ recent performance, highlighting improved starting pitching led by Tanner Bibee. They dissect the team’s offensive challenges, including struggles against left-handed pitching and the demotion of Jhonkensy Noel and the callup of Johnathan Rodriguez. The duo evaluates key players like José Ramírez, Carlos Santana, and Bo Naylor, while exploring potential solutions such as prospect call-ups and trade targets.
Despite a brutal schedule, the Guardians remain in the wild card hunt
0:00 Guardians starting pitching finds groove
5:11 Tanner Bibee’s mechanical tweaks improve performance
10:05 Offense struggles, Bo Naylor hits against lefty
15:08 Lineup holes gaping, several players unplayable
20:42 Jose Ramirez and Carlos Santana leading offense
25:29 Potential trade targets to improve lineup
30:53 Schedule difficulty and offensive rankings
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32 Comments
Guardians have only scored double digit runs ONCE all year. It was against the pirates 10-7. They almost gacked that game away in the 9th from what I remember. Offense has been real hard to come by.
If they do make a trade at the deadline, I hope it’s for multiple yrs of control. With multiple holes, this offense is going to take some time to fix. Even if we do call up a promising prospect they’ll need time to adjust.
Justin: Has Bennett Thompson cooled off? What happened to Alex Mooney that he started so well at Lake County and kind of fell off?
why don't you guys just admit it, this lineup misses andres jimenez, he could move the runners and is an allstar gold glove
Jeff – I am doing the Prospects live mock draft simulator here and there, I have no idea who I am taking. Usually it's Conrad or Petry. I try and go College Bat, Prep Arms, for CBB 1 and 2, and then College Bat and maybe college arm? Is it going to be similar strategy this year?
the main problem is the lineup right now is full of major league wanna be's most of their lineup belongs in AA or AAA
Guardians FO is going to tank this season because they don’t have any guts. They’re hoping for a winning lottery ticket instead of betting big on a full house. They sit and pray to get significant offense out of Noel, JRod, and Jones instead of aggressively promoting players who have long track records of excellent all-around hitting at every level of the minors. Teams like KC or the Angels wouldn’t be hesitating at all to promote either Kayfus or DeLauter. Both would be better options in RF than anyone they’ve played at the position in Cleveland this year. Why the wait? They’ve proven they’re not huge on service manipulation, but both of these two deserve innings in RF more than JRod.
the problem with these young players is their development process is they are not taught to how to move runners consistently
Normally listen everyday on Apple Podcasts when I’m driving, but do appreciate being able to watch and comment. Love what you guys do and how locked in you help me stay with Cleveland baseball.
Great show today, LoG!
Excellent work by Jeff providing the data to (try) and get people off the ledge.
Hi gents, sorry for the lack of listening/watching. Been away for 3 weeks but I'm back. Thanks once again, I feel we are holding on by our fingertips currently
I was surprised to see that according to Baseball Reference, Santana’s WAR after 64 games is twice as high as Josh Naylor’s. I imagine that a lot of this is for defense but we are not losing overall production this year not having Naylor.
I’m hoping we can get a power hitter at the deadline, but the price will likely be very high :/
Jose has been ungodly hot since may 1st and they are still in the bottom third of the league. If Jose cools off it’s near the bottom of the bottom
I would welcome Amed Rosario back.
Top of the bottom third lol. I guess that’s something to hang their hats on.
I think after about two weeks we will be able to conclude whether “streaky” is a compliment or whether they just plain aren’t very good. At the end of the day, 2/3rds of their lineup on any given day has an OPS under 700. That’s not going to cut it.
what have you heard about Tommy Hawke's defense? Just wondering if there's a chance he could turn into a Myles Straw / Jarrod Dyson – type player who can wreak havoc on the basepaths and in the field at the major league level.
Unpopular opinion but Jiminez and J, Naylor made the team greater than the sum of the parts. The MOJO and the chemistry were great last year.
You guys make a good point about Martinez. His lack of walks makes it really tough for him. My prediction is that Lane Thomas will be activated and take Will Wilson’s spot on the roster and Angel will become more infield heavy in his utility role
going to an Akron game soon, any prospects to keep an eye out for? was hoping to catch bazana and maybe bieber but with recent injuries it doesn't appear so
Comment
Guys,
Great show, thoughts, and comments!!!!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new playoff format with three wild card teams per league. I think it has severely diminished the competitiveness of the MLB.
I believe platooning has tanked offensive production. Especially when you have young guys that start the season with some sense of confidence but then continuously gets ripped out of the lineup. I believe it happened with Manzardo. I believe it happened with Noel. I think the trade for Jones and the attempt to get Lane Thomas back into the lineup helped to implode our offense as well. Jones is progressing, but is it impeding necessary at bats and development? Egh… 🤷♂️
Knee jerk city???? Team Ave 24th, RBI 24th, OPS 21st. It’s June this is one of the worst offenses in baseball. Zach also brought up WRC+ I believe CF dead last RF dead last and catcher 29th
Anyway great show guys!
a blind man could see the regression coming. the owners and front office literally did nothing to add to a team that overachieved and made an alcs appearance. they did not do much at last year's trade deadline or leading up to it when they were playing .800 ball. the owners do not care about winning, nor have they ever really. they are happy selling merch and playing just well enough to keep the die hards spending money.
I believe in JRod
KJC! That cracked me up…. We lost the series, but easily could have won it. Vs a scorching hot Houston team. Melton's diving catch really was a difference maker. Plus we we were on the verge of winning the game Hunter started. Not to often Jose does not come thru in the clutch. As far as the offense, teams have tagged us as lefties being our Kryptonite. For good reason. Not having Lane does hurt. Angel and Manzo need to calm down and start hitting again. I wonder how sore Kwan's wrist is, I keep hearing that being mentioned.
Great show as always. Hopefully brighter days are ahead.
Nothing to do with the game, but…you talked me into ordering the WONDERFUL pistachios Jeff. (And I don’t even like nuts 🥜) lol I got the 14 small packs with no shells, and a pound bag With the shells. Tyfs
If Lane Thomas was healthy, Angel would have never gotten the chance to continue to develop. He would have been playing only 1 day out of the week, if that. Consistency with these young players I believe is important.
Miami has some guys I really like actually. Sandy, but if not him. Cabrera and or Pérez have good stuff. Catchers Ramirez and hicks. Of Stowers or Sanchez.
But I like guys like Gavin lux
Been hear rumors Bryan Reynolds’s can be had.
Mets have a couple guys Vientos, baty and acuna. Not sure who could be had or not but heard “rumors”
Baltimore has Bautista, Mullins and o Hearn.
And I still would love to get Bo Bichette.
I know a lot of these guys are probably out of reach being the guardians but when will we change it up and make a move.
I would bet money that the Guardians will be SELLERS at the Trade Deadline, Thomas and Santana for sure.